


Words Get in the Way

by merryghoul



Category: GLOW (TV 2017)
Genre: 1980s, 5 Times, Angst, F/F, Holidays, New Year's Eve, Post-Canon, Season's Treatings, Sitcom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28043163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryghoul/pseuds/merryghoul
Summary: Five doors standing in Debbie’s path to Ruth.
Relationships: Debbie Eagan/Ruth Wilder
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Words Get in the Way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [armadillo1976](https://archiveofourown.org/users/armadillo1976/gifts).



> Title from the Miami Sound Machine song of the same name.

_one._

Debbie didn’t think she’d spend New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles alone with a bottle of champagne and _Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve._ But here she was, staring at said unopened bottle of Taittinger Brut, listening to the Bangles play “Walk Like an Egyptian” through her television.

At some moment during the _Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve_ broadcast Debbie decided she didn’t want to mull on the rest of the performances on the show. She grabbed her keys and her Taittinger Brut and drove to Ruth’s apartment.

It was when Debbie arrived in the parking lot that she remembered Ruth might still be in Omaha. Knocking on the door might be a futile exercise. Debbie knew missed Dick Clark awkwardly describing the apple-shaped ball dropping in Times Square. People were setting off fireworks and Debbie could hear them. Debbie decided to drive home, hoping to maybe catch the KABC-TV sign off before the station went offline. Maybe she could drink to the rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” played on a Moog synthesizer.

_two._

Debbie managed to get nearly every person that worked for GLOW back for their new television run on the network Debbie co-owned. Carmen declined, preferring to wrestle in the territories that hadn’t collapsed or the World Wrestling Federation hadn’t taken over yet. Debbie called Sam. Sam refused to come back before Debbie could get a word in.

The others came back. Debbie promised some of them, like Arthie and Cherry, new gimmicks. She promised others new roles in GLOW—Tammé was going to transition from wrestling into becoming a heel manager for a “bad girls” stable. All agreed to lodge back into the motel they stayed while they were making GLOW for K-DTV. Bash insisted they move back into the motel, partly to keep everyone together and partly if they needed the motel to film GLOW segments.

Ruth didn’t come back. She didn’t answer Debbie’s or Bash’s or anyone else’s calls. Before cast move in day, Debbie called Sam to see if he could get through to Ruth.

“What did I tell you? I’m retired from directing,” Sam said to Debbie. “I don’t have to explain why I retired to you.”

“Sam, you’re our only hope.”

“Oh, so I’m Obi-Wan Kenobi now. Find someone else.”

“Sam—”

“I can’t be arguing with you. Find someone else to help you find Ruth.” Sam hung up.

Debbie tried to call Ruth as the rest of the GLOW cast checked into the motel. Debbie let the phone ring for a minute, letting the sound grate her ear, before hanging up. She groaned through her nose. She knew the only way to attempt to contact Ruth would be to literally knock on her door. There was a reception for the GLOW cast in the motel lobby later that evening. Debbie thought it would be the best time to sneak away to attempt to talk to Ruth.

Debbie looked around the parking lot for Ruth’s apartment this time. Ruth told Debbie she bought an orange 1971 Ford Pinto before the GLOW cast went to Las Vegas. The Pinto was in the parking lot. Debbie assumed Ruth was at home.

Debbie approached Ruth’s door. She knocked on the door. “Ruth? Ruth?” She waited after that. She said nothing to the people passing her by on the hallway, giving her funny looks. Debbie knocked again after a minute, still questioning if Ruth was home. Five minutes passed before Debbie did this again. After another knock ten minutes later, Debbie gave up on Ruth and decided to head back to the motel.

Debbie started her car. She hesitated taking the car out of park when she thought she saw Ruth walking past one of her windows. Debbie wasn’t sure it was Ruth. She drove away from Ruth’s apartment.

_three._

Debbie started reading a script given to her by the production staff on one of the new shows she commissioned for her network, _Small Glass Slipper. Small Glass Slipper_ was a show about the misadventures of Bill, a man who worked in a magic shop; Michael, a paralegal; and Kelly, their maid. Debbie convinced Bash to get the rights for the show only because she thought it was a hit while she was on _Paradise Cove._ Debbie found out later the show was canceled because of its low Nielsen ratings. There were also few critics who liked the show when the first season aired.

“No Rope Breaks,” the script Debbie was reading, was the result of a deal Debbie made with the producers of _Small Glass Slipper._ She’d help get their show back on the air if they wrote a script with some of the cast of GLOW. Debbie realized why _Small Glass Slipper_ was originally canceled. Every attempt at a joke she read didn’t make her laugh once. The most interesting thing about the script was a one-off character, a rich adventurer and wrestling fanatic named Pamela. Pamela takes Kelly to a GLOW tryout. Debbie wasn’t surprised Pamela’s character took a back seat to the antics of Bill, Michael, and Kelly.

Half of the current GLOW cast appeared in the script as guest stars. Most would be doing cartwheels and light stunts in the background. The _Small Glass Slipper_ production team insisted the GLOW cast to not do serious wrestling moves as they couldn’t pay for anyone if they needed medical attention while filming. Debbie decided to take a small speaking role in the episode; she was playing as her new wrestling character, Lady Liberty. The writers gave most of their guest star lines to a new GLOW character known as Sasha the Thrasha. Sasha the Thrasha replaced Zoya the Destroya as GLOW’s resident Soviet heel wrestler. As Debbie read Sasha’s lines, Debbie had a feeling Sasha couldn’t make her lines sound as menacing or goofy as the script, as terrible as it was, demanded.

Debbie didn’t want to do this since she wasn’t exactly fond of Sam doing the same thing to her. But Debbie felt she needed to do what she was about to do. Debbie grabbed “No Rope Breaks” and her keys and drove to a place she assumed Ruth would be—her apartment. Maybe going to Ruth’s apartment for the third time would be a charm, at least to have her play Zoya...the Thrasha, Debbie guessed. K-DTV didn’t have a copyright over the name “Zoya,” right?

This time Ruth opened her apartment door but then promptly closed it in Debbie’s face. Debbie knocked on the door again. She kept knocking until Ruth opened up the door. Ruth got into Debbie’s face this time. “You don’t get it!” Ruth yelled over an episode of _WWF Superstars of Wrestling_ playing in the background.

“What don’t I get?”

“Why I didn’t come with you at the airport. You’ve turned into one of them.”

“One of what?”

“You’re...you’re like Bash now. Except you’re not like Bash. I wanted something of our own without acting like one of the boys. You _are_ one of the boys now.”

Ruth started closing the door, but Debbie managed to grab it. “I have a role for you. It’s in a shitty sitcom I shouldn’t have renewed on my network.”

“I stopped taking TV jobs because I was getting shitty roles in shitty sitcoms.”

“It’s only a few lines. An one time engagement. If you perform this role, I’ll leave you alone for the rest of your life. Since I am, and you’re right, ‘one of the boys.’”

“No.”

“You’re playing Zoya the Destroya. I mean, not Zoya _Zoya_ the Destroya, but a character like Zoya. You know K-DTV.”

Ruth glared at Debbie before saying “Deal.”

“This Pamela Bayley character is literally the most interesting character in this script,” Ruth said as she skimmed “No Rope Breaks.” Debbie and Ruth were sitting at Ruth’s kitchen table. _WWF Superstars of Wrestling_ was still playing in the background, but the audio was turned down. “She’s apparently rich, she’s a world traveler, and a wrestling fan. Of course she’s a one-off character.”

“Kelly has a lot of girl friends. Platonic girl friends. There’s Wendy, Michael’s girlfriend, and then there’s a rotating host of guest star girl friends. They’re only doing guest star girl friends because the woman who played Bill’s girlfriend quit when the show was first on TV.”

“I don’t blame her.”

Ruth read more of the script until she reached her role. “They named Sasha in the script after Sasha,” Debbie said, but I’ll have her named after Zoya.”

In the “No Rope Breaks” script, Sasha trains the rest of the GLOW girls until Bill stumbles into the GLOW gym. Bill says something that doesn’t sound romantic or flirty, but Sasha ends up chasing Bill around the GLOW gym until the episode ends.

With a couple of pages left in the script to read, Ruth put down the script. “You still see me like this?”

“Like what?”

“Like in this...” Ruth turned the front of the script. “Script written by Timothy Thompson.”

“Ruth, it’s just a bit where you chase some dipshit salesman...” Debbie grew quiet when she realized why Sasha in the script upset her. “Oh.”

“I thought we worked to get past all the issues with the cheating.”

Debbie sighed. “It’s my fault. I read the script and thought _Oh, this sounds like Zoya, not Sasha._ I wasn’t trying to spite you.” She hit a fist on Ruth’s table. “Look, GLOW doesn’t feel right without you. Sasha’s an okay wrestler. She’s an okay actor. But she’s not you.”

Ruth put down the script. “Debbie, do you miss Zoya, do you miss my directing...or do you miss me?”

“Well...”

“You know I have a boyfriend, right?”

“Yes.”

“I _had_ a boyfriend. I dumped him. He told me he had some job filming in Spain with this producer, Menahem Golan. Turns out he was hired to do some Spider-Man movie. The production stalled and now he’s back in LA working on something called _Alien from LA._ His life’s not stable right now. I want some sort of stability. Apparently that stability is _Superstars of Wrestling._ So yes, against my better judgement, I’m going to play not-Sasha the Thrasha for this television show. Even though I would rather play Pamela Bayley. And I don’t want Zoya to fall in love with this Bill character.”

“I think I know what you want.”

_four._

Ruth rehearsed the “No Rope Breaks” script as written, including the scene she personally hated: Zoya turning away from training in _Small Glass Slipper’s_ idea of GLOW’s gym. Bill bumbles into the gym, attempting to warn Kelly she’s about to audition for a wrestling show and not the musical _Smile._ (Ruth cringed at the _Smile_ mention in the script. The musical was based on the movie of the same name, and the musical closed before GLOW could start filming again, making the reference already dated.) Zoya develops an attraction to Bill.

The plan was to pull Ruth and Debbie’s script switch in front of a live audience. Veering off-script while filming a sitcom was unheard of. Then again, it would hurt a script that was already awful in the first place.

When the scene was being taped, the actor playing Bill bumbled into the GLOW gym. With his disheveled white shirt, his crooked bow tie in a bright floral print, his brown dress pants, and his eggshell-colored dress shoes, Bill looked every bit the eccentric car salesman he was supposed to be. Bill screamed when he saw the GLOW girls. “Kelly, this isn’t an audition for _Smile!_ ”

Few people laughed in the audience.

Ruth, dressed as Zoya, was standing on the outside of a replica wresting ring as most of the other GLOW cast members were moving in and out, doing light wrestling moves and cartwheels. Tammé was outside the ring in a white leotard, a fake fur stole, and a tiara; she was now known as “The Queen.” Since Tammé couldn’t get into full heel manager mode for the _Small Glass Slipper_ audience, she could only benignly cheer the other wrestlers on. Debbie was by the gym’s door, dressed as her Liberty Belle character, but under her new name of Lady Liberty.

Ruth turned to the actor playing Bill. “This is a closed audition, American scum.”

The actor playing Bill was stunned. He was expecting Ruth to take a beat and say, “But today I will make an exception. You can stay and watch, capitalist pig. Sometimes in Russia we don’t mind what you call here ‘eye candy.’” Bill looked at Ruth thinking she forgot her lines.

Debbie grabbed Bill and yanked him up. “You heard the woman. It’s a closed audition. No men allowed.” She hit Bill in the abdomen with as little impact she felt she could with her knee. She then threw a fake punch to Bill’s head. Ruth jumped off the apron and ran towards Bill with her right arm outstretched, clotheslining him out of the gym door.

The director of “No Rope Breaks,” hiding behind the camera operator in front of the gym set, blushed as the audience laughed and cheered Ruth and Debbie’s unscripted antics more than anything in the script.

_five._

The card for these new GLOW shows was now printed on computer paper. Bash paid for an Amiga 2000 and a printer. He felt a promotion like GLOW needed the most recent technology to run smoothly. He didn’t care the Amiga 2000 alone cost nearly $2400.

Tonight’s filming had a special match at the top of the card: SASHA THE THRASHA* VS. ZOYA THE THRASHA — LOSER GOES BACK TO SOVIET RUSSIA MATCH. The star by Sasha’s name meant she was scheduled to win the match. Sasha would stay in GLOW while Zoya would leave...allowing Ruth to direct episodes of GLOW.

“I guess I’m going to become one of the boys now.” Ruth looked at the card in her Zoya costume. Debbie, in street clothes, stood beside her. 

“I don’t understand. I thought you wanted to direct GLOW. I thought you weren’t going to Omaha so you’d help us prepare our new show. But you left me anyway. _Us._ You left _us._ ”

“Directing’s one thing, Debbie. I came back not to direct GLOW, although I am doing that. I came back for you.”

Debbie turned to Ruth. Debbie felt Ruth missed her the way she did Ruth. She wasn’t too shocked when Ruth leaned in to kiss her. She wasn’t expecting Ruth to kiss her before what might be her final match for GLOW.

Debbie pulled away from the kiss. Did I ruin your makeup?”

Ruth shook her head. “No, you didn’t ruin my makeup. Why would you ruin my makeup?” Ruth looked at a clock above the show card. “Time for me to get in position.” She took a deep breath. “Goodbye, Zoya.”

“Goodbye, Zoya,” Debbie repeated. “Good luck tonight, Ruth.”

“Thank you,” Ruth said, walking to where she was going to wait until the music played for Zoya’s entrance.

**Author's Note:**

> Miami Sound Machine and the Bangles (mentioned in the fic) performed on the same edition of _New Year’s Rockin’ Eve_ (1986-87).
> 
> The fictional _Small Glass Slipper_ sitcom is based on the sitcom [_We Got It Made._](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Got_It_Made) [One episode from 1987](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1425439/) had a cameo from the cast of the GLOW wrestling promotion. [(I credit r/GLOW for helping me come up with part of the idea for this fic.)](https://reddit.com/r/glow/comments/exzcbo/vintage_glow_on_an_awful_1987_sitcom_called_we/)
> 
> Sasha the Thrasha is based off of Sasha the Russian from the Powerful Women of Wrestling (POWW) promotion, a promotion founded by ex-GLOW personnel and wrestlers. The wrestler that possibly inspired Zoya, Natasha the Russian, was also in this promotion. 
> 
> Yes, “Pamela Bayley” is a blatant nod to the wrestler Bayley...but to be fair, [Bayley _was_ referenced in an episode of _GLOW._](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6153418/)


End file.
